


A Two-Witch Job

by cosmic_llin



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Battle Couple, Established Relationship, F/F, Partnership, Teamwork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25791847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: Ada and Hecate defend their school against a sudden attack.
Relationships: Ada Cackle/Hecate Hardbroom
Comments: 10
Kudos: 45
Collections: The Hackle Summer Trope Challenge





	A Two-Witch Job

The wraiths were everywhere, suddenly. 

This was the thing every headmistress feared, vanishingly unlikely though it was. Wraiths were rare, but they could devastate a school. Attracted to the power of an active Founding Stone, they would feed on its magic and the magic of the people connected to it until both were empty.

Ada had hoped, when they saw the first signs, that there would be time for an orderly, if swift, evacuation. Time to seal the school properly so that the problem could be dealt with by professionals.

No such luck.

Half the girls were already out, the rest moving briskly towards the doors, when the wraiths descended - their shadowy grey forms bursting into existence above them, bringing the smell of cold ash in their wake.

Ada cast a hasty spell upward to repel them - barely a spell at all, just a burst of force in their direction - and yelled: ‘Stay calm, keep moving, don’t let them touch you, and whatever happens, don’t try to transfer! Miss Drill, you know what to do!’

Somewhere behind her Dimity yelled an acknowledgement, and Ada let herself forget everything else and focus on the task ahead of her. She stood rooted to the spot, keeping her improvised shield going as the girls flowed around her to safety. She felt a presence at her side, then caught the reassuring scent of Hecate’s magic flaring into life. 

This was a two-witch job, if you wanted a chance at survival. Perhaps later she would feel guilty that Hecate was staying behind with her, but in this moment it felt right that they should do this together, and Ada had expected nothing else. They were partners, in everything, including protecting their school.

She could feel that Hecate was building a proper shield spell to replace her makeshift one - slower to cast but easier to maintain, at least for the moments they would need.

No spell lasted very long, when wraiths were involved. She could feel them already, sucking the magic from her spell, feeding on it, growing stronger the more she tried to fight them.

To fight wraiths with magic at all was folly, but it only had to be long enough to let everyone get away.

‘Got it,’ Hecate said in a low voice, as her shield sprang into life, and Ada snapped down her own spell before the wraiths could use it against her.

As they bounced off Hecate's shield, Ada began to gather magic for her own again. It was the only way with wraiths - back and forth, never too much at once, never enough to let them get a grip on the thread of your magic and follow it back to you, to drain your power at the source.

The last stragglers were rushing past them now, but there was still the courtyard for them to cross, still the gateway to get through before they were beyond the wraiths’ reach.

‘Ada…’ Hecate said in a strangled voice.

Ada flung up her new shield. ‘Ready,’ she said.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hecate slump a little in relief, even as she tasted her magic on the air again, building for the next time.

Ada’s arms shook with the effort of maintaining the shield as the wraiths surged against it, and just at the moment she felt her strength begin to fail, there was Hecate taking over again, giving Ada precious moments to breathe and rebuild her spell. They passed the duty back and forth until a yell in the distance told them that the girls were safety out.

‘All right,’ said Ada, ‘this will be tricky. Are you ready?’

‘As I’ll ever be,’ said Hecate, and she tilted so that her shoulder gently nudged Ada’s. The touch was steadying.

Ada raised her own fresh shield, forming it into a bell shape around them, and the two of them began to back away from the wraiths, keeping their shields rotating as they moved slowly closer to the doors.

The wraiths swirled and jabbed at them, but the shields held steady as they inched their way out of the castle and into the courtyard. Ada gave as little magic to each shield as she dared, but the wraiths grew stronger every minute. 

They would make it. The gateway was close.

At the same moment, Ada, Hecate and the wraiths spotted the two first-years cowering by the outer wall. 

The wraiths began to drift towards the girls, tempted by the new source of magic.

‘Run for the gate!’ Hecate called, at the same moment that Ada flung a bolt of magic into the mass of wraiths, hoping against hope that it would distract them from the bright purity of the girls’ power. 

It worked - the wraiths turned on them, forgetting the children for the moment. Ada felt Hecate move so that they stood back to back, leaning a little on each other.

She sent stinging spells at the wraiths - short, sharp bursts that kept their attention but prevented them getting close enough to touch, even as they gathered magic and strength. In her peripheral vision she could see bursts of light as Hecate did the same.

She was tiring, her magic harder to reach each time now, but they couldn’t stop. Not until their girls were safe.

At last, after what felt like hours of alternately goading and repelling the wraiths - but was likely not more than seconds - they heard Dimity call: ‘Got them!’ from outside the castle walls.

And then Ada felt Hecate stagger, and she whirled to see her half-kneeling, one hand on the ground, her face screwed up in pain.

‘I just need a moment…’ she said, but she could barely get out the words.

‘No,’ said Ada, her heart hammering now. ‘You need to get away. I’ll hold them off.’

She knew the signs. The wraiths had begun to consume Hecate’s magic directly, and if she cast another spell they might drain it entirely. Sometimes witches recovered from a wraith attack, but it was rare for them to regain all the power and control they’d had before. She couldn’t bear it if that happened to Hecate.

‘Not without you,’ said Hecate fiercely.

‘Hecate…’

‘Don’t ask me to leave you,’ Hecate said, through gritted teeth.

Ada could feel her beginning to build another spell, in spite of what she must know the consequences would be. Ada had known this would happen, just as surely as she had known Hecate would join her when the wraiths first appeared.

Just as surely as she knew that she would fight with everything she had to protect Hecate now.

They were so close to the gates. So close. If only they could make it those last few steps… if only they could distract the wraiths long enough to make a break for it…

Desperately, Ada yanked at the brooch she wore, tearing it from the fabric of her blouse. She cupped the shining circle in her hands, pouring magic swiftly into it until the heat scorched her palms, and then flung it with all her might across the courtyard.

The wraiths darted eagerly after it, tasting the power as it arced through the air.

Ada grabbed Hecate’s hand, pulled her to her feet and half-dragged her away, not daring to look over her shoulder to see if they were pursued. They passed through the gateway, and Ada felt the subtle shift as they moved beyond the Founding Stone’s aura, into the relative safety of the grounds beyond.

Hecate sank to the ground, panting, and Ada followed her, her legs shaking too much to hold her up. 

Behind them, Miss Bat darted to close the protective circle of anti-magic that she must have already drawn around the rest of the school. It would keep the wraiths at bay until they could be properly disposed of, and they couldn’t drain the Founding Stone either, with no witches in the school to complete the circuit and draw out its magic.

Hecate’s hand, still in Ada’s, squeezed hard.

‘Everyone’s safe,’ Dimity told them. ‘We’ve done a head count.’

Ada allowed herself three breaths to steady herself, and then stood up, brushing off her skirt. Beside her, Hecate did the same.

‘Into your form groups!’ Hecate said, and only Ada could have detected the quaver that was still in her voice. ‘Final year girls, check everyone for injuries. Teachers, to us please.’

For a while the work in front of them took up most of Ada’s attention, although some part of her was always aware of Hecate - a little paler and slower than usual, but handling all the details with her usual briskness.

It wasn’t until later - with the emergency teams called, a makeshift picnic hastily organised to both feed and calm the girls, and the next steps planned - that they had the chance of a fleeting quiet moment.

‘Ada!’ said Hecate, as they met. ‘Your hands!’

‘Oh.’ Ada looked down at them. On each palm was a neat semicircle of charred flesh, where she had held the brooch. Now that she had noticed them, she noticed the pain too.

‘Come here,’ said Hecate, holding out her own hands.

Ada shook her head. ‘You need time to regain your strength…’

‘I have enough for this.’

Hecate’s gaze was warm, her mouth determined.

‘All right,’ said Ada.

Hecate took Ada’s hands in her own, and cool light poured into them, soothing the sting, mending the damage.

‘Thank you,’ Hecate said. ‘For getting me out of there.’

‘I couldn’t have left you either,’ Ada said softly.

They looked at one another for a moment, and Ada knew that when they finally regained the peace and privacy of their rooms, they would talk about this, and perhaps cry about it, or laugh with relief, and they could hold one another and feel everything there was to feel about all of it.

But right now they were the headmistress and her deputy, and they turned their attention back to their school.


End file.
